Mac Attack
by brokende
Summary: A trip to the Apple store because of an unresponsive laptop could give Bella some new, very non-technical responses.  Macward to the rescue!  An AH series of fluffy drabbles.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This is a fluffy series of drabbles inspired by a gchat Conversed and I had about how we'll never be able to take our laptops in for repair, for fear of anyone seeing the frightening amounts of Robporn, slash, femmeslash, smut and porn in general contained therein. The plot bunny reared its silly head amidst talk of "rebooting her RAM" and "plugging in his USB." My Twinbrain and I are ridonkulous, but I love her more than my luggage, and I thank her for everything. Without her, I'd still be a strange, lonely American, obsessing over fanfic in exile.**

**Each drabble is 111 words, in honor of a new year to be spent slutbunting with my TSA gals. They are wonderful writers, and even better humans. Please check the "Favorite Authors" on my profile, and read their work. You (and your damp gusset) will thank me.**

**I don't own Twilight. I don't even own copies of the books: I've permanently "borrowed" my son's.**

* * *

"Shit," I mumble as I rush into the Apple store. It's almost time for my Genius Bar appointment, and if I'm late, they'll give away my spot. That will further screw up my already tight schedule, and I could miss my deadline. Not acceptable.

"I'm Bella Swan; I have a twelve o'clock appointment," I say to the iPad-holding twentysomething hovering by the door.

"You just made it!" Chirpie trills around her piercings. "Have a seat, and Edward will be right with you."

I sit, pulling my MacBook out of my messenger bag.

"Bella, how may I help you today?" a sexy voice asks, and I look up.

Fuck. Edward is gorgeous.

* * *

"Bella?" Sexy Voice inquires, as I gape at the vision in an Apple-logo polo. "What can I do for you?"

Oh honey, what can't you do for me?

With a mental headshake, I look into the greenest eyes ever. Sucking in a drool-drowned breath, I say, "Well Edward, my baby is unresponsive, and I'm on deadline. I'm hoping it's an easy fix."

"What happened before it froze?" Edward asks, caressing the top of my baby with his long, long fingers.

Putting my lips to his ear, I whisper, "I spilled coffee on the keyboard. Help a poor girl out?"

"I'll open her up for you," Edward breathes on my blushing cheek.


	2. Chapter 2

Watching that luscious ass retreat in a swath of khaki makes me sigh. No one that attractive and smart would go for me. I need to stay focused on my career and stop fantasizing about coppery sex hair and green eyes. Pulling out my phone, I check my email. No frantic messages from Alice about the approaching deadline, so I send her a quick note saying that I'm dealing with a computer issue and will message her as soon as I have an update. She sends a row of smileys separated by x's and o's. That girl is too fucking happy. Dress for Success is lucky to have her.

He returns.


	3. Chapter 3

"Bella, I see no visible evidence of liquid infiltration, which wouldn't be covered by your AppleCare warranty. However, since you have buttons missing and a problem with your track pad, I'll replace the keyboard for you. At no charge, with your coverage," Edward says, his eyes downcast, all business.

"Thank you, Edward," I respond, unable to keep a tinge of defeat from my tone.

He raises his eyes, stares at me intently, and leans over the Bar. Quietly he says, "I've ignored this. I think I've been blinded by beauty."

He gestures to the exposed metal. Ghostly impressions of dried coffee are everywhere.

He winks, and then he turns and leaves.


	4. Chapter 4

Blinking, I close my mouth and try to recover from the shock. He said he was blinded by beauty? He thinks I'm beautiful? Me? I'm smiling like the Joker right now. I send a frantic text to Alice: _Sexy geek flirting with me. What do I do? Help!_

Alinoesall: _Flirt back, duh!_

Bellaswrite: _I don't know how! Help me, dammit!_

Alinoesall: _We've talked about this, Bella. Big eyes, hair flip, arm touch. Hit him with the Big Three. Where r u?_

Bellaswrite_: Apple store. Gorgeous tech ignored coffee spillage 'cause "blinded by beauty."_

Alinoesall: _::bouncing:: Obv likes u! Be yourself, if you were a girl. Giggle._

Bellaswrite: _I don't giggle, Alice._


	5. Chapter 5

Scowling, I turn off my phone. I'm a girl, even without fake eyelashes, tanning beds, and flat irons. I love shoes. And boys.

Edward returns. "All fixed, Bella. I replaced the logic board; wouldn't want any missed deadlines. What do you do?"

His smile is warm. I flip my hair, touch his arm, and open my eyes wide. "I create newsletters for non-profits. That's why Baby's important. Thank you, Edward," I purr.

He seems stunned. Mesmerized, I hear a grating voice.

"I hope my Edward solved your problem." A hand wraps around my man's bicep. The hand is attached to a blonde with hard, bluesteel eyes.

Her nametag reads, "Tanya, Manager."


	6. Chapter 6

Feminine turf wars baffle me, but I can hold my own. "Yes, Tanya is it?" I respond, lifting my eyebrow and using my best bitchtone. "Edward performed beyond all hopes and expectations. He deserves a raise."

I smile brightly. "I would give him one, if I could," I say. Then I place my hand behind me on the uncomfortable stool, lifting my cleavage front and center. "A very big raise," I breathe, staring right into Edward's greens.

He visibly gulps. Her Edward my ass.

The shrew doesn't back down. Pushing her chest into Edward's arm, she stares at me. "Edward has never disappointed me," she states. "He comes through every time."


	7. Chapter 7

Edward turns to Tanya, pulling his arm from her grasp. "Tanya, I'm finishing with Bella. If you'll excuse us?"

He stares, one eyebrow raised. She stares back, and I see emotions play out in her expression. Surprise. Confusion. Shock. Anger.

Hurt.

Hurt. Shit. I realize I've stumbled into the middle of a relationship, not just a girly battle of wills, and I'm not that woman. I take the Girl Code seriously: I do not flirt with taken men, and I will never be the "other woman." Suddenly, Edward is much less attractive. He's not just a kind, gorgeous geek who thinks I'm beautiful.

He's a pig, and a player. No thanks.


	8. Chapter 8

Tanya breathes deeply and straightens her shoulders. "Of course, Edward," she states, her tone impassive. She turns. "Bella, I hope you've found what you needed here today. I'll leave you in Edward's capable hands."

Looking Tanya in the eye and smiling directly at her, I say, "Tanya, I apologize if I seemed rude just now. I have a deadline to meet, and I'm stressed. I publish a newsletter for Dress for Success, an organization I'm passionately committed to, and I would hate to let down the women who depend on me."

"After all, we women need to stick together, don't we?" I ask.

She smiles back. "Indeed we do," she says.

* * *

I stare at Edward as Tanya retreats. He has taken in our interaction like the spectator at a tennis match, and he appears stunned and confused. Men. How have they run the world for so long? He tilts his head as he gazes at me, questions lurking behind his eyes.

"Are we done here, Edward?" I ask, keeping my tone friendly, but neutral.

His brows furrow. He stammers a little as he responds, "Well yes, Bella, but I don't like the word 'done' after the 'we.' Please take my card."

He pushes an Apple-logo scrap over the Bar. It reads, "Edward Cullen, Genius." His cell number is handwritten at the bottom.


	9. Chapter 9

Pushing the card back across the Bar, I give Edward my "all-business face." Impassively I say, "Thank you, Edward, but I'll contact AppleCare should I have any concerns. I'd rather someone completely **divorced** from the situation take care of **my** needs. I'm sure a … man like yourself will understand my position perfectly."

Standing, I slide Baby back into my bag. I turn, flipping my hair over my shoulder one more time, and I look back at Edward. His mouth is still agape; his hand is still on his card. "Please give Tanya my very best wishes," I state.

"Bella, I think you may have misunderstood," he calls. I walk away.

* * *

Walking to my car, I text Alice: _Asshole! Gfriend is store manager!_

Alinoesall: _WHAT? How do u no?_

Bellaswrite: _Staked claim. Arm grab, "my Edward comes through." Hurt face._

Alinoesall: _R u sure? Could be wishful thinking._

Bellaswrite: _Y would she do that if not involved?_

Alinoesall: _Bella, Bella, Bella. Sum women are bitches. What did geek say?_

Bellaswrite: _Said I misunderstood, but I left._

Alinoesall: _Bella, FFS! GO BACK!_

Bellaswrite: _Can't. Too embarrassed._

Alinoesall: _What if THE ONE? Go back!_

Bellaswrite: _Not happening._

Alinoesall: _Stubborn ass! ::steaming::_

Bellaswrite: _Sigh. Really liked him, Ali._

Alinoesall: _Could tell. Sorry, bb. Come home; buy u sum pie. Luv u._

Bellaswrite: _Luv u 2._


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N This drabble earns this story its "M" rating. If you are under 18 years of age, please flounce now. I'll still be here in a few years' time, I promise.**

* * *

After wine and chocolate with Alice, my dreams are vivid. I'm naked and laid out on a black leather chaise, my arms over my head, hands gripping the armrest. I am inside my body and standing across the room, watching. Above me are green eyes, narrowed and piercing. Above me hovers long lines of man – coppery hair, broad shoulders, muscled back retreating into peaks and dimpled valleys. I feel his fingers on, over, inside. I see my back arch, his mouth descending onto my breast. Sucking. Licking. Biting. I feel him, hot and hard, pulsing. I watch him move, in and out, push and pull.

I wake, gasping and wet, aching.

* * *

After a long shower, I stumble into the kitchen. Alice hands me coffee and two Tylenol. I smile my thanks.

"Bella, I know you don't want to talk about it, but I think you should go back and talk to Edward," Alice says. "I have a feeling there's more to this story."

"And if you're right?" I bark. "At best, he thinks I'm crazy, all hot vixen one minute, then cold bitch the next. Even if there was something there, I've beaten it to death."

"But Bella," Alice starts.

"No buts. It's over, Ali."

I open Baby. No apple. No rotating disk. Just a question mark on a blue background.

Fuck.


	11. Chapter 11

As I step into the Apple store and give pierced Chirpie my name, I look everywhere at once. I don't see Edward, so I breathe a sigh of relief. If I'm lucky, it'll be his day off. Who am I kidding? I'm not lucky.

I take my seat at the Genius Bar and keep my eyes down, pretending to search through my bag. Finally I place Baby on the counter.

"Bella? How may I assist you today?" a mountain with twinkling blue eyes booms, his massive arms crossed in front of his enormous chest, his smile almost as wide.

I tip my head back to see his nametag. It reads, "Emmett."

* * *

"Um, uh, well," I stumble. I know I'm staring and stammering, but c'mon. I'll need a neck massage to recover from making eye contact with this guy.

"Struck dumb by the magnificence that is Emmett, Bella?" he chortles. Oh hell no.

"Just wondering if you have another brain in your ass that tells your legs to move," I snap.

Emmett throws his head back and bellows. It's such an honest, joyful sound, I can't help but laugh along with him. He beams down at me and puts his fist out for a bump. "Dinosaur humor to a geek, Bella? I like you," he states, nodding. "Now I get it."

Wait, what?


	12. Chapter 12

"Get what, exactly?" I ask.

Emmett sobers, and his eyes narrow. "That you're clever enough to write for a living, Bella. That's what it says here in your file. You use your MacBook to create newsletters, correct? You contacted AppleCare after finding it was still unresponsive despite our replacing your logic board yesterday?"

Well shit. My self-absorption knows no bounds. Sheepishly I reply, "Yes, that's correct, Emmett. When I opened Baby this morning, all I got was a question mark."

"Let me take Baby in the back then, and see what I can do," Emmett grins.

Again, I can't help but smile back. "Just sit tight, Beautiful," he says.

Wait, what?

* * *

What kind of store **is** this? I expect to hear techno music and be handed a cosmo any minute. All taut-wire nerves, I wander to the iPhone accessories. Forty-five dollars for Skullcandy headphones? What the fuck is a "bumper," and why would kate spade design one? I'm lost. Seeing Emmett – he's hard to miss - I go back to the Bar.

"Good news, Bella Dancerella!" he calls. "When I removed the battery and reconfigured the power supply, Baby revived."

"Thank you, Emmett, for your help. The flirting and nicknames, not so much," I respond.

"Relax, Name-Means-Beauty; I'm just teasing my newest friend," Emmett chortles.

His smile widens. "I'm married, not blind."


	13. Chapter 13

"You're married?" I ask. Yep, there's the ring. _Clueless as ever, Bella,_ I think, as I take a mental facepalm.

"Five years this spring," Emmett responds, pulling out his wallet and showing me a picture. Holy shit, he married The Sure Thing. "We met in college; my Rosie's a mechanical engineer." Ah, a brain trapped in the body of a game show hostess.

I have to stop watching so many John Cusack movies.

"What about you, Bella, Bella, BoBella? Got a fella?" Emmett asks, his eyes sparkling in mischief.

"No, no one special," I respond. "Nice guys are hard to come by."

"They may be closer than you think," he laughs.

* * *

This store's no good for me; I need to get out of here.

"Thanks again, Emmett," I say, standing and gathering. "I've enjoyed meeting you."

"You too, Cinderbella," he answers. "Hope you find your prince, and hope to see you again soon."

Alrighty then.

As I'm leaving, my phone rings. Alice, always impatient. I dig, pacing before the storefront glass. Barely eking out a "hello," I hear, "Was he there? Did you talk to him? WHAT HAPPENED?"

I look up and see Emmett whispering to … Edward? As if sensing my gaze, his greens capture my browns, and I'm frozen. He smiles tentatively and waves.

I wave back and walk away.


End file.
